CAO Black

Every once in a while, I satisfy my sweet tooth with tobacco. This one fits the bill. The tin note is amazing, mine was not overly moist as others have noted. It burned well with minimal relights - none until I neared the bottom of the bowl. The room note got the "wife seal of approval." On the downside, I wish it had a little more tobacco taste to it and a little more kick. No matter how hard I pushed IT DID NOT BITE. Overall - not a bad smoke.

CAO - Black.

I had a few bowls of this last night, and fancying a change of pace, smoked some more this morning. I think it's nice enough, but nothing incredible.

The coarse cut mixture includes more black Cavendish than lighter Burley and Virginia. The note from the tin says it contains more raspberry than chocolate/vanilla. My moisture made it ready to smoke straight away.

Lighting a bowl isn't a problem, and then it burns steadily and independently, however I find it can creep above medium in temperature. The flavour: the raspberries come over unquestionably, but, sadly, taste a little too sharp; for me. The chocolate and vanilla meld together to form a creaminess, which takes away some of the asperity from the fruity side. Where the tobaccos go, I notice they don't seem as smooth or sticky as the appearance suggested; there's a coarse Burley flavour and the black Cavendish isn't too sweet or sticky. I haven't found it gives much of a bite, unless pushed too hard.

Nicotine: not much. Room-note: perfectly inoffensive.

CAO Black? If the raspberry flavour wasn't as sour I'd rate it higher, maybe some more chocolate and vanilla would help? But, for how it is, I'll go with two stars:

Somewhat recommended.

Another light aromatic, light on nicotine,but just right on flavor. Notes of berry, vanilla and a hint of cocoa are well balanced in this blend. The top notes do not take away from the nutty burley and light lemon of the Virginia. Good aromatic, packs, lights and burns well. Flavor last throughout the bowl and in my opinion gets more pronounced as you smoke. Can be a all day smoke for berry lovers. For me it is an occasional foray into this genre and a break from my heavier favorites.

Another of my clearance purchases. I opened this up and could tell it needed drying time. Left it for a day and it was then smoke ready. Lit up easy and gave off light smoke. Had a good room note but very little taste. This has so much stuff put into it it has a hard time with what it is. I guess that is why the taste was so hard. I would not recommend this at all. Still smoked wet and left a ton of goop at the bottom of the pipe.

CAO black is in a class of tobaccos I refer to as the modern American aromatics, the flavor is ALL topping and NO tobacco. I never smoked a Hookah but imagine this weed would be at home in a hookah as well. The cavendish here, as a reviewer stated already, is a flavor delivery substrate and nothing more. Upon opening he tin you get smacked with the raspberry. It is a delicious smell and very strong. You can also get the cocoa and maybe some vanilla in the tin note but you have to try for it. It is excessively moist and needs a few hours dry time but once aired sufficiently it's ready to bring the goods. This tobacco is all about the topping and it delivers. Raspberry up front then cocoa and/or vanilla in the background depending on the puff. You'll need a few extra matches but Black is nice and consistent to the bottom. You'll be left with some sticky goo, some crusting, and a ghosted pipe but that's to be expected with this type of aro. Excellent room and beard note also expected with this class of tobacco. Hardly any nicotine to be had, just topping, topping, topping. I like this for an after lunch pipe before heading back to work or when doing something outside and feeling like a sweet smokable treat. Unsuitable for real, heady, pre-bedtime piping. Highly recommended for lovers of the highly cased leaf, for everyone else, meh.

I bought two tins back in March of 2015 and squirreled them away for the future. In the pandemic summer of 2020, I cracked one of those tins and was pleasantly surprised. As noted, the blend smells edible before you set it on fire. Black burned nice and smooth with no bite. The predominant flavor was raspberry with a solid, for me, vanilla base. And there was a nice bit of burnt chocolate or mocha taste. The raspberry was upfront but not too cloying or overpowering. This was one of those wonderful stick sweet aromatics. Great quality and a nice change from the black Cavendish vanillas blends. While smoking this tin, I also smoked a tin of the similar Sutliffe Loire Valley

As a returning pipe smoker I decided that quality aromatics were a priority. CAO makes some of my favorite cigars and are consistent one batch to the next. I hate flavored cigars but pipes are different. I cracked the tin of CAO black and was not overwhelmed with a syrupy aroma of raspberry and chocolate. The berry was the top note on the tin note. I packed a bowl into my Cobbit Shire. The scent lingered and became a bit more pronounced while packing the bowl. It was not wet or sticky to the touch and getting a top coal was easy. Smoke quality right off the bat before the tamp was top notch. Post tamp and regular puffing a nice volume of smoke, most likely based on the quantity and quality of the cavendish was pleasant. The "berry" remained throughout but not tiresome. The chocolate notes were developing as the burn progressed but again more complimentary to the overall flavor. Room note? I smoke outside. the atmospheric note was pleasant. I live in a tropical climate. It is hot and humid here at least 8 moths out of the year. I was looking for an aromatic or an easy smoke to suit my climate. i think I found it!

Interestingly enough, unlike their other tins this one came with a very shoddy paper wrap and a plastic cover instead of cardboard. Tin note was disappointing, I had expected a dark raspberry chocolate cake, and got slightly acidic rotten cocoa. Came sticky to the touch, but not too wet. It was extremely difficult to light, and tasted of a very off cocoa, no raspberry to speak of. Room note was about how it tasted. Very disappointing for CAO.

When I stumbled across Eileen's Dream, I was impressed and eager to try CAOs other offerings. They all ended up being decent, though not quite as good (heck I even tried their cigars - if only to remind myself I dislike cigars). Which brings us to the last of the series; Black. Aptly named, as it was the black sheep for me.

For some reason I did not notice it was a raspberry aromatic, which I find to be disgusting in principal. Adding a bright fruit flavor to a smoke is akin to thinking your burnt toast will be refreshing if fresh fruit is on it. The tin odor reeked from additives, to the extent I had to wipe off the stench that clung to my laptop (I took it outside with me for the review). *Note the very strong room note to reflect this. If chocolate was at work here, it was underneath this sick treat.

The moist dark flakes packed fine and it fired up like a champ. The taste once going wasn't even too terrible, but again raspberry is not for me. The nicotine strength was mild overall and left no bite.

I dunno, if raspberry flavor is your thing (I may be too harsh a judge), but know this... no other aromatic had such a lasting smell on its surroundings.